Thailand imported steel worth over Bt80bn during first half of 2009

BANGKOK, 20 August 2009 (NNT) – The Iron and Steel Institute of Thailand (ISIT) stated that Thailand had imported upstream steel worth over 80 billion baht during the first half of 2009.

The ISIT reported that Thailand’s steel import was steadily increasing with a 10.9-billion-baht worth of imports in June 2009 and a total of over 80 billion baht from the beginning of the year. In contrary, ISIT Director Wikrom Vajragupta recently stated that foreign investors, namely GFE Steel from Germany, Nippon Steel Corporation from Japan, Arcelor Mittal from India and Baosteel from China, still remained interested in investing in Thailand’s upstream steel project.

Executive Director of Sahaviriya Steel Industries Plc (SSI) Win Viriyaprapaikit pointed out that the operation stipulated within Article 67 of the 2007 Constitution was unclear and had caused the SSI to decelerate the upstream steel project in Bang Saphan district, Prachuap Khiri Khan province. Both foreign and Thai investors thus have to accept any possible risk resulting from the delay.